Page 293 - DMGT402_MANAGEMENT_PRACTICES_AND_ORGANIZATIONAL_BEHAVIOUR

Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes She said she was surprised that there wasn't a single competent person who could help her
out. Rajeev tried to calm her down but this only annoyed her further. She dashed to the
exit, flinging both the pair of trousers and the loyalty card to the floor, vowing never to
come back to the store. Rajeev knew the store had lost a loyal and valuable customer, but
at the same time did not want to take any decisions without consulting Sushma first. He
felt frustrated and helpless.
Ever since Sushma had been promoted, she had been working late, sometimes till midnight.
However, most of the work that she was doing was something that she should have
delegated to her juniors. She preferred to do the work herself as she did not have enough
trust in her juniors.
So in actual fact, only her title had changed - her attitude and focus had not. She was still
doing the same work that she had been doing before her promotion! All this additional
work, however, left her with very little time to attend to her own responsibilities.
On another occasion, when Sushma heard a customer complaining about the quality of
fruit and vegetables at the store, she immediately went to the woman to sort out the issue,
forgetting that she had an appointment with a senior official from Techtron Electronics
who wanted to discuss his company's plans of running a promotional event in association
with MSA.
It was a great opportunity for Sushma to get additional business. The marketing manager
of Techtron, Vishal Anand, waited about 45 minutes for Sushma, but she was busy pacifying
the woman who had come to complain. Sushma could not perform well on the task
consideration of situational theory of leadership. Anand ultimately grew tired of waiting
and left; he then went to Stop&Shop, MSA's prime competitor.
In the evening, Aravind Sinha, Director, MSA, came to know that Techtron had gone to
their rivals. So he called up Anand to know why he had changed his mind and tied up with
MSA's rival.
Anand then told him, "Your store was our first choice, but it seems your Manager was too
busy to see me. I thought I should go elsewhere where they would appreciate my time."
Sinha was taken a back.

On learning what had happened, Sushma was worried that she had disappointed Sinha.
From being a star performer and everyone's favourite employee, Sushma had suddenly
become the one person no one wanted to work with.
Her juniors thought she interfered too much, while her seniors thought that she was not
focused enough. Sushma was confused. She liked to think of herself as indispensable, and
thought she was working her way toward becoming exactly that for her organisation.
The way she saw it, she was being helpful to everyone, working harder and longer than
ever, and doing more than she was expected to do! What then, was she doing wrong?
Questions
1. What in your opinion was Sushma doing wrong? What do you suggest she do now
in order to rectify the situation?

2. Should the company have trained Sushma for her new role? What should Sinha do
now?
3. How do you suggest Sushma to move on to greater participation levels in accordance
with the participation theory?

Source: www.icmrindia.org

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